I entered a deal today to buy a project 1947 Stinson 108-2 Flying Station Wagon with a 165HC Franklin. Money / plane hasn't changed hands yet, but we agreed on the deal.

It was ground looped but didn't get as much damage as some I've seen. The basics needed to get it flying...right wingtip repair, left wingtip replace, recover left wing, repair lower cowling, get a prop, inspect the engine for the prop strike (and hope there's no damage). Obviously it's not just that simple, but you get the idea.

These are a couple of the good pics, none of the damage is really shown in them.

Nice score, man!

Engine health/total time is a major portion of an aircraft's value, so I'd make that prop strike issue a pretty big IF.

1SeventyZ wrote:Nice score, man!

Kind of a barn find. It wasn't for sale. A guy knew about it, looped 6yrs ago and has been sitting in a hangar since. I tracked down the owner and gave him a call.

...

I had to come over here and say congrats here as well
Congrats!!

OK, Here is the news.
Congrats Tadpole. Looks nice. Good luck on the inspections. Hope the repairs go well, and we see ya in the air soon.

I'm runnin a guy up to Cheyenne this AM. Hopefully a day lie we had the other day.

Gary

Hey looks pretty nice! Is that a cargo compartment door on the side? The plane has some really nice curves to it and that interior dash looks cherry! All the best to ya. RR

It is a nice looking plane! Congrats!! Hope your in the air soon.

Ridge Runner wrote:Hey looks pretty nice! Is that a cargo compartment door on the side? The plane has some really nice curves to it and that interior dash looks cherry! All the best to ya. RR

Yup, that's a baggage compartment door, they came with the -2 and -3s, but I've seen quite a few -1s have it added to them.

Thanks everyone!

Provided you priced in those repairs and a teardown inspection on the engine (meaning you paid something south of $10k), congrats! Should be a fun project to get it back to airworthy condition, I'd just hate to hear that it became an anchor around your neck because the repair costs far exceeded your estimate and budget.

Any idea of the history of the engine? Like who rebuilt it last and when? Hopefully it has the bronze valve guides, the cast iron ones can be sketchy after extended storage. As you get into the engine you should have Bruce Kown from Classic Aire (770-386-7435) on speed dial. He knows the engine very well and has most any part you could need. He was a pleasure to deal with when I topped my 165 a few years ago and was generous enough to extend a military discount as well.

Congratulations- I know you'll love the airplane! And I second Vick's endorsement of Bruce Kown for engine work...

Way to go Tadpole!! I liked my -2 better than the -3 I owned, way better in the X-winds!

Hey Tadpole, and any other Franklin guys that don't know about this guy

I got another connection for ya on the Franklin engines.
Greg Lucas dba, C. G. Lucas Co.
Paul's Valley Ok.
405.268.3925

He used to work for Bruce
My buddy bought a plane from Bruce and the flywheel took a crap and metal went through the engine, filling the oil filter with metal. So, my buddy called Bruce, and Bruce recommended that He deal with Greg. My buddy felt that Greg had great knowledge on the Franklin engines, and was very pleased with his work. And I guess he also has a lot of engine parts.

shortfielder wrote:Hey Tadpole, and any other Franklin guys that don't know about this guy

I got another connection for ya on the Franklin engines.
Greg Lucas dba, C. G. Lucas Co.
Paul's Valley Ok.
405.268.3925

He used to work for Bruce
My buddy bought a plane from Bruce and the flywheel took a crap and metal went through the engine, filling the oil filter with metal. So, my buddy called Bruce, and Bruce recommended that He deal with Greg. My buddy felt that Greg had great knowledge on the Franklin engines, and was very pleased with his work. And I guess he also has a lot of engine parts.

Unfortunately Greg recently announced that he is out of the Franklin business. He sold all of his inventory to another guy (don't recall his name at the moment but I'm sure you can get it off the yahoo Stinson group) and is referring customers to him.

Vick wrote:Provided you priced in those repairs and a teardown inspection on the engine (meaning you paid something south of $10k), congrats! Should be a fun project to get it back to airworthy condition, I'd just hate to hear that it became an anchor around your neck because the repair costs far exceeded your estimate and budget.

No worries there. Plus I'll be doing all the labor on every bit of this, including the engine.

Vick wrote:Any idea of the history of the engine? Like who rebuilt it last and when? Hopefully it has the bronze valve guides, the cast iron ones can be sketchy after extended storage.

I have the full history, before I even found the owner to ask if he'd sell. I've been working with the guy that rebuilt the engine 1.5hrs ago, along with all kinds of other work on it. He's a Stinson restoration specialist...his info is even on John Baker's website.

Tadpole, both Bushwagon and I will be back in Yernal, N'braska in September, if things work out. Lil' Red Aero in nearby Kearney has been a Stinson and Franklin specialist for a long time. Girlscout and I are likely driving rather than flying, so theoretically could schlepp some stuff if it helps.

Soooo, this is Bruce's old Stinson, I've wing-walked it to the end of the runway owing to nasty winds....

Univair has darn near anything you need, at a PRICE

Thanks. cubscout

Congratulations Tadpole. I've had my -1 for 8 years now and really love the old girl. It's too bad Franklin has been such a trouble spot for us owners. These are really well engineered power plants. And they are TOUGH. If I were to do it over again I would have held out for a -2. They do everything just about right for the design. They are also easy to put another STC'd engine in like the 0-470 or the IO-360. The Yahoo fourm is good and the Stinson club has a bunch of great guys in it.
Good luck and have fun
Mark

Congrats, Tadpole!

Speaking as a project owner, I highly recommend trying to do a little on it every day, and setting aside a block of time like four solid hours to work on it on the weekends - the solid block lets you do larger projects without losing time to finding tools, laying things out again, and putting stuff away.

Working on it every day avoids the "well, this weekend I've got to do this, and next weekend I'm busy..." month-long lags in progress, and gets it done a little bit at a time.

Very nice,

For having been sitting for 6 years it looks incredibly clean. The dash is a classic layout. It just goes to show how important hangers are to fabric airplanes.

Looks like a great project. (dual brakes too!) that's a definate plus.

Keith